[tvrtk]

Actually, it's my wife's car. It's got 29xxx miles on it.
Last week, I went through a serious rain storm.
We haven't driven the car much since then. Today, I got in it to take it to get new tires because the OE tires were at 4/32" and hydroplaned way too much. They were faithfully rotated every 5000 miles.
Anyway, when I got in the car today there was a bad musty smell. When I pulled up the passenger side front floor mat, the carpeting was soaking wet. And, I noticed a bit of water coming down inside the car from the firewall area.
I used my shopvac and pulled up a couple cups of water with it. I've got a box fan blowing on it now to help dry the carpet.
I constantly check the sunroof drains and use compressed air to make sure they are not clogged.
That leaves me with trying to find the cowl drain. I've run into this problem before when it was still under warranty. The dealer told me they cleared the cowl drain. But I did not ask where the drain outlet is.
Is it under the plastic belly pan on the passenger side of the car?
Sorry for the long post, but thanks in advance for any help.

 

[VStar650CL]

They're under the cowl cover, but I'm not sure if the one on the driver's side is accessible from outside. I haven't worked on clogged drains on a gen6 yet, but on a gen5, the driver side fitting is underneath a sheet metal shroud and the best way to clear it is to pull the inside fusebox and poke a screwdriver through from the inside. The passenger drain should be accessible just by pulling the wiper arms and cowl cover. If the driver's side isn't covered up like the gen5, it will be behind the wiper motor assembly and require popping the assembly loose. It's likely the fittings are the same ones as most other Nissans, there will be a plastic nub in the center of the drain hole which you should break or remove.

 

[tvrtk]

I was able to get the cowl cover lifted up enough on the passenger side to get my air nozzle in and give it a prolonged blast of 80 psi air. The driver side was a bit more problematic but I was able to get in there to also get it blown out.
I then poured water into the cowl area and it all drained out both sides.
Now, it wasn't a toad strangler worth of water like the rainstorm I went through last week when the leaks occurred, but I feel better about it.
Now I need to do the same for my daughter's 2014 Altima.
Thank you for the help.

 

[VStar650CL]

The '14 will be more problematic, those are the ones with the driver side under the sheet metal.

 

[tvrtk]

The passenger side is the one causing her trouble. What I can't figure out is why, when the passenger side front floor board gets wet, water also appears in the rear passenger side floor. Her car has a sunroof as well.

 

[VStar650CL]

The passenger side is the one causing her trouble. What I can't figure out is why, when the passenger side front floor board gets wet, water also appears in the rear passenger side floor. Her car has a sunroof as well.

It's the tilt of the floorpan, plus the fact that the foam spacers underneath the front carpet are much thicker than in back. That makes water show up in the rear first, even if it's coming in from the front.

 

[tvrtk]

The '14 will be more problematic, those are the ones with the driver side under the sheet metal.

You've got that right. I was able to get a clear shot on the passenger side. But, the driver side is tough. My air nozzle has an 8" long, 1/4" OD tube that let me get the nozzle close to the driver side drain. I gave it a long blast of air. I'd like to think it helped because I poured water down the cowl and it drained pretty well.

 

[tvrtk]

Just when I thought I had taken care of the water leaking on our 2020, we had a minor rain shower this morning that lasted about 15 minutes while my wife was driving to town. Water is present again on the passenger side front floor board. The water is coming down from somewhere in the center of the firewall.
Does anybody have any ideas as to where the leak is? Could it possibly be from the driver side windshield wiper pivot?
I'm just glad the car is garage kept when it's not being driven. The spring rains have started here. If the car was to sit out overnight during a storm, I'd be afraid to see how much water would be in the car.

 

[VStar650CL]

That sounds like a windshield leak. There are no body seams in the middle of the firewall, and anything coming in through the wiper pivots should be going straight out through the cowl drains. Unless the cowl isn't draining and water is reaching the blower inlet, I don't see anything else it could be besides a bad windshield seal.

 

[tvrtk]

The windshield was replaced in December 2021. But, I've not noticed a leak until a couple of weeks ago.
I just ordered the tool needed to remove the wiper arms from their respective pivot shafts. I want to be able to remove the cowl cover completely so I can get in there to make sure everything is clear.

 

[VStar650CL]

You shouldn't need anything special for the wiper arms, just a 14mm socket. Once the nut is removed, grab the base of the arm and shake the crap out of it up-and-down till it comes off the shaft.

 

[tvrtk]

I had to spray a bit of WD-40 around the shaft on each arm. Then I shook the arms a bit and they slid right off.
Once I got the cowl cover out of the way I saw a 4 inch square piece of metal tape like what is used on A/C ducts in houses. Whoever put the tape on didn't make sure it was fully stuck. It was covering a 1 1/4" hole that was factory punched to gain access to a 14mm or 15mm bolt head. It is along the centerline of the instrument panel. Is it for securing the instrument panel to the firewall? Then I saw about a 2.5 inch long piece of seam sealer just to the right (looking from the front of the car) of that large hole. There was a 1/4" size hole drilled from the inside. There was even some threads, from a small bolt, in the sealer. If there had been a bolt there, it was put in front the inside, but has fallen out. So, I filled the hole with silicone.
We're due for some big rain tonight and tomorrow. I may just park the car outside of the shop and let it get rained on to see if I've managed to plug any leaks.

 

[VStar650CL]

The screw behind the metal tape secures the steering crossmember to the firewall, there's a welded brace right above the pedals. None of that stuff should matter unless the cowl is filling up with water, and it pretty much has to be totally blocked at both ends to fill up. That's a common problem on N17 Versas, but it's very rare on Alties and other Nissan models. However, I should caveat that I haven't had the cowl apart on a gen6, so I can't say with certainty that they're almost unblockable like a gen4~5.

 

[tvrtk]

Once I got the cowl cover removed and was able to see the drains, I don't see how they would ever get clogged.
So, I'm back to trying to figure out where the water is coming from.
Could it possibly be coming in through the A/C box?
Two or three months after we bought the car, we could hear water sloshing around whenever we made a turn. The dealer's technician said he cleared the drain. That was the last time we heard water like that.
So, I guess my next question is: where is the A/C drain? I'd like to see if it could stand to be cleaned.

 

[VStar650CL]

On a gen6 the drain is in the same place as a gen5, behind the console kick panel on the passenger side. Don't trust a visual inspection, the hose needs to blow clear and you should poke a screwdriver through the nipple to make sure there's no debris inside the housing (like a bottlecap liner) covering up the drain hole.

If water is overflowing the cowl you should see a distinct waterline which ends at the bottom of the blower intake hole, indicating the cowl is flooding and water is ingressing through the blower.

 

[tvrtk]

Knock on wood, but I believe the drains are flowing freely outside the car, and not into the interior. The car got rained on pretty good a couple of days ago. I checked the interior last night and it was dry.
Thanks for the help.

 

[VStar650CL]

 

[tvrtk]

Well, I spoke too soon. My wife just got back from a 3 hour trip. She ran the A/C the entire time. When she pulled into our shop, she said she heard water sloshing around in the A/C box. A bunch of water hit the passenger side front floor.
Where exactly is the A/C drain?
I have the car up on ramps and removed the plastic belly pan. I don't see anything that looks like a drain anywhere under there.

 

[VStar650CL]

Get it from the top. Here's the location on your gen5, the gen6 is similar. No tools needed, the kick panel pops loose and the hose just pulls loose from the nipple on the HVAC. Make sure you can blow through it easily and poke a screwdriver into the nipple to make sure nothing inside the HVAC is blocking it.

 

[VStar650CL]

PS - Have a container handy, if you can hear it sloshing then there are probably several quarts of water in there.